That would be an interesting experiment to try out even if it wasn't on Christmas Day and it could be any year from a long time ago.
Just to see what the experience is like.
It would probably be the closest thing you could experience to time travel.

You'd think that they should though seeing as the BBC is a service which we pay for.
They say that they aren't about the ratings so I don't know what their excuse is.

Nope, could never get into it. I remember the shops full of toys and the original cartoon. I liked Bravestarr or Galaxy Rangers too, can't think which one. Never got any of the toys though.

Until eBay did not realise how many cartoons of the time had a line of toys produced. For example, Dungeons and Dragons and Inspector Gadget.

Inspector Gadget had toys made? I never knew that. We wouldn,t have been able to afford tv toys though, so maybe my parents didn,t let on about them. I got a Merlin though and a grandstand pong cartridge game for the tv.

Yeah you always see no end of continuity on youtube unless they only taped them which seems odd not to record shows.

When did D&D have a toy line? I must of missed that as would have loved to get them at the time.

Bravestarr I remember,

Not many people remember the Gobots though.

Yep, in 1986. Though not many tbh. I'm not sure if they were released in the UK or just available in the States.


Approx 1984, but only available in certain European countries.

Only have very vague recollection of Gobots.

The only thing the was on that day was the Miss Marple ep (apart from The Queen) We always had the family round on Xmas day, so not a big telly day. Did tape EE though, my mum wouldn't want to miss that!....

Ooops. The OFAH was taped too.
Last edited by Tourista : 07-12-2016 at 20:04

I think the nearest ive ever come to a full days television viewing would probably be the Live Aid concert.

A basic cheap version of Transformers it seemed when I saw it. I think there was 3 good Gobots and 3 bad Gobots.

Thinking about toy line I was wondering how many He-man toys never made it to the UK. I searched high and low for the Sorceress but never found her. Either she was the Dusty Rhodes of MOTU or she never released here. I got most of them but she was quite elusive.

I have a lot of Christmas shows taped from about 1985 onwards. Always try to watch some of them every year as a lot of todays TV leaves me cold. I also have a lot of the BBC Christmas trails uploaded to YouTube - like this from 1987 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3yf_lJtELI

You should share the shows om YT.

I think the reason why some of those YT videos of old Xmas TV recording schedules and previews are absent of the actual shows themselves is probably because the uploader of the videos has cut them out in case YouTube throws a big wobbler about copyright infringement and decides to disabled their account. Whats the bloody issue with copyright on a 30 year old recording?. It's childish. Where else are people going to watch o!d stuff like that?.

Well I did get a reply from one youtuber and he said he didnt record the shows he only taped the continuety.

That is some amazingly good quality of a nearly 30 yr old recording. There's barely any interference or deterioration whatsoever; what video format did you record it on? and how have you managed to preserve them so well?. It's like they've barely been played much. I wish a lot of the recordings I have from this period (from Betamax) where has good as that. A lot of the tapes have been deteriorated quite a bit through ware and tear and tape damage, etc. Betamax tapes seem have been more prone to getting tangled in the recorder more than vhs from my experience.

Maybe, but those continuities and trailers look too prisicely cut together to have been recorded in real time using a conventional video recorder of the day such as a Betamax and VHS. If you were recording one programme, stopping it then recording another, you would get some kind of video interference between each recorded programme, even if no gap in the tape was left between the following recording. You wouldn't get a perfect cut between the two as you would using a nonlinear computer editing programme (or even a modern digital recording system). Anyway, a little off topic there.

Was looking through some tapes on vhs that were transferred from my old Betamax recorder recently and there's a recording of The Time Machine on Channel 4 from the 28th Dec 1984. I also have The Snowman from sometime in the 80s, which may've been of the very first showing. It cant be from 84 as apparently 1984 was the only year The Snowman was never shown.

I agree Xmas television back then was a real treat and worthwhile watching. Expect the usual suspect films to be shown this year:

Polar Express (it was shown last weekend but I predict it'll be shown at least once if not countless times over the festive period). It must be the most repeated Xmas related film of all time.
Home Alone 2 (oddly, the second film seems to get shown more than the first).
Dispicable Me/2 (it's always on TV regardless of the time of year)
James Bonds (I love the early Connery/Moore Bonds, at least I can cope with them, but please no more Daniel Craig Quantum of Solice, Spectre, etc, they're so boring.
The Mummy/Scorpion King, etc. Wish they'd stop repeating these films.
The Wizard of Oz
The Great Escape
The Sound of Music (9 times out of 10 it's shown on New Years Eve or New Years Day)
The Carry On films (i'll be surprised if not one Carry On film isn't shown over Xmas).
On the Buses (guanteed to be shown on itv2 or itv3 sometime between Boxing Day and New Years Day).

Bravestarr! Forgot that as well. Loved that. The toys were huge. Bravestarr was a bit a dark mood cartoon which I loved. Tex Hex was like a scary skeletor.

Betamax was terrible to the tape always getting stuck.

WAs it 86/87? Have a vague memory of it during Max Headroom.

Filmation put alot of brands out back then. Never realised how many cartoons they did.

Funnily enough I got a Sorceress. Only one I didn't get is Gwildor. Might be a regional thing too, with certain toys harder to find. With Mattel producing it's possible we got the same as America.


Just checked them out - it was Bravestarr. Never saw any in shops around me but did see a second hand one for sale in the late 80s. Was really cool to see something I didn't know existed in toy form.


Shame not one is shown on TV thesedays. Though I assume they're all easy to find.

I remember getting Guildor he was in the film wasent he? I remember getting Blade and Saurod who shot sparks out of his mouth.

I think most Filmation stuff is out on DVD. Bravestarr was hard to find over here because of 3 volumes of a couple episodes.

Great Find Jackol Thanks -might be good to start a separate thread with this link
Im sure many DS readers will love looking at that site m8